


Crab Apples

by lapsed-bookworm (queerlybeloved777)



Series: Apples & Honey [3]
Category: S.W.A.T. (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Relationship, Canon polyamory, F/F, F/M, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-OT3, Pre-Poly, Relationship Reveal, Unicorn Hunting, Unicorns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 16:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerlybeloved777/pseuds/lapsed-bookworm
Summary: “Oh, right”, Chris shook off the surreality of listening to her girlfriend’s boyfriend talk about how they met. Just because it was new, didn’t mean it was bad. She just had to remember that monogamy was the presumed default and stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ty wasn’t some weird cult leader looking for a sister-wife. He was flexible enough to try polyamory but not dedicated enough to have built up experience yet.





	Crab Apples

**Author's Note:**

> [Source](https://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/2008/10/compersion-for-beginners.html) for compersion vs frubble vs mudita (Buddhist term). The bracelet described is from the [Lokai](https://lokai.com/collections/2-0-collection/products/single-wrap) collection, which has "water from Mt Everest in the white bead, and mud from the Dead Sea in the black bead. These extreme elements are a reminder to the wearer to find balance - staying humble during life's highs and hopeful during its lows".

Ty had arrived early and was already sitting at an outside table for this coffee chat. Chris didn’t particularly care for calling it a date because this was not a flirtatious, getting to know someone occasion, even if Kira had done so in the group chat. Ty wore a faded green t-shirt that might have once had more than paint stains and jeans, and Chris had to admit that he wasn’t exactly bad on the eyes. However, this wasn’t a one-time thing and done, so a nice smile and cute face had to be sent to the back of the line of consideration. She hadn’t bothered with make-up or anything fancier than an unstained shirt and jeans without holes because it was better to test the waters now. Not that Chris prided herself in turning into a slob on the weekends, but any sort of relationship with her would not be perfect eyeliner, full face of make-up, or stylishly ready for a date 24/7.

“Hey Chris”, Ty smiled warmly and shook her hand as she took a seat, motioning to a glistening portion of his shirt, “‘Fraid I’ve still got some wet paint today.”

“It’s alright”, Chris was relieved, but she wasn’t entirely sure it was appropriate to share that. Kira had seemed awfully encouraging of them hugging goodbye after a combined date to a bowling alley last weekend, and Chris was reasonably certain that Ty had picked up on the awkwardness during the hug. It’s not that he had been creepy or gropey, but she had felt like she was a little girl being drug to a family get together where she didn’t have a choice but to hug distant relatives she didn’t know. Ty fiddled with an olive green corded bracelet with two beads on opposing sides, a bright white and a deep black.

“We should just cut to the chase”, Chris would’ve preferred to soften some of her questions, but she figured that as long as she didn’t slip into an interrogative mode a little bluntness would keep them from lingering here all day, “I’m not looking for a fight, but I can’t exactly ask some questions in the group chat or within earshot of Kira. So, is this a cuckold experiment, or are you looking to fulfill some threesome fantasy?”

“What?”, Ty blinked a few times in the ensuing silence, and Chris could feel that he wasn’t putting on a performance in her gut. The slight furrowing of the brow, flicker of his eyes down to the table and back, the way he sat up straighter in the chair. Even if he had been interested in these sexual fantasies, he wasn’t proudly claiming them or sheepishly fessing up to looking for a sex partner. Chris slowly extended her reasoning, “It’s not an uncommon fantasy for a man to want two women in his bed, even if the details differ.”

Ty’s shoulders relaxed as he realized where Chris was steering the conversation, and he spun the black bead on the cord, “If she were merely looking for someone for some fun in the bedroom, Kira would not have gone looking for someone to date.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Chris waved away the approach of a waitress with menus, “She’s got this trio idea, or whatever --”

“Chris”, Ty tried to cut in, but she had to get this off her chest before it festered into something bigger, uglier than concerns about threesomes, “She plans out activities for all three of us, and we have to talk in the group chat so everyone can see what’s being said, and she got weird about you texting me directly. Something isn’t lining up, Ty.”

Ty nodded to the waitress who had circled back around with her menus. He ordered a small chai tea for himself, and much to Chris’ relief, he didn’t insist on ordering for her or press the issue that she needed to pick something. He waited until their waitress Sofia had left to speak, “Kira doesn’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you into this, so she’s been trying to run interference and be transparent so there’s no feeling of talking behind each other’s back and being left out.”

If Chris weren’t on a mission, she would probably be joining him in playing with the packets of artificial sweeteners. What he was saying made sense, but there was something that Chris couldn’t let go, “Kira’s been doing most of the work for arranging all of this. Is she the polyamorous one?”

Sofia brought out the cup and saucer with the spiced tea, but Ty’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was a little more relaxed holding the warm cup, but he didn’t seem thrilled to be answering the question, “I met Kira at an exhibition here in L.A., but I still lived in Melbourne for the first two years we dated. She was unhappy with forcing herself to be monogamous, and I thought it wasn’t very fair to not give it a shot when we were in a long-distance relationship. Sure, I’ve cared about more than one person at a time, but I never felt constrained by only dating Kira so I just didn’t try to look for anyone else. Then I moved my studio to the States, and she started to talk about triads. I’m not opposed to it, but it hasn’t worked out so far.”

“It hasn’t worked out so far”, Chris repeated, feeling a bit numb. Was this what having an out of body experience was like? It wasn’t pleasant. Ty frowned in confusion, “It’s not like we ran into an axe-murderer or anything, Chris. Kira is more likely to pick up women who are interested in women, and I can’t say I blame women for not wanting to jump into a relationship with me when I get around to mentioning Kira. It’s usually a red flag for infidelity.”

“Oh, right”, Chris shook off the surreality of listening to her girlfriend’s boyfriend talk about how they met. Just because it was new, didn’t mean it was bad. She just had to remember that monogamy was the presumed default and stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ty wasn’t some weird cult leader looking for a sister-wife. He was flexible enough to try polyamory but not dedicated enough to have built up experience yet. Ty spun the white bead on his bracelet with a small smile, “ _Oh, right_. Sounding a bit monogamish there.”

“I don’t feel upset or jealous when you’re with Kira”, Chris shrugged, “But I also don’t feel happy or excited. It’s like a non-feeling, or something.”

“I was so nervous about not feeling jealous that I didn’t realize when I was frubbly in the beginning either”, Ty lowered his voice, and something about the conspiratorial whispering felt a little more real. It was nice to have an open discussion like this and maybe connect with Ty as his own person, even if it involved translating slang, “You was what?”

“Handful of Brits thought compersion was a bit clinical, so they came up with frubbly”, Ty waved off an instance of situational British slang, “Personally, it’s the sort of thing I’d tell a journalist, all proper and answering questions about _compersing_. Like, compersion and jealousy are what the dictionaries and academics use, but I frubble and feel wibbly.”

“Isn’t that a site, Weebly? No, that one kid’s toy, I don’t know if they were big down under, but they had a catch phrase: _Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down_ ”, Chris liked the feeling of satisfaction from getting a laugh out of Ty. He didn’t seem like the uptight or stick-in-the-mud type, but it was so much easier to relax around him without the pressure of an official thrupple date. Ty sipped from his chai and smiled to himself, “When Kira first started talking about datemates and metamours, she compared it to the Buddhist practice of _mudita_ , sympathetic or unselfish joy. It’s, like, feeling pleased when someone else is successful or does well. Frubble narrows mudita to relationships, so her happiness from being with you is my happiness, in a manner of speaking.”

Chris wasn’t entirely sure what words could describe what she was feeling. There was a novelty, an excitement to the idea that she liked. She wanted to know if the tendril of satisfaction at sharing a joke could blossom into being happy when Kira was with Ty, into compersing or frubbling or whatever. Ty gently brushed his fingers over the back of her hand, “I know it must be hard to take this all in. It flies in the face of everything we’ve been socialized to respond to, feeling happy that someone you love is marrying someone else.”

“Who’s getting married?”, Chris’ stomach gave an unpleasant twist at the way Ty frowned and sat back in his chair. Neither he nor Kira wore rings of any sort, so she was finding it hard to believe they were the ones getting married. And yet, they were only discussing a triad, so it wasn’t like someone had another metamour stuffed away in a closet somewhere. Chris’ voice had gone a bit flat, nudging into interrogative mode, “Who’s getting married, Ty?”

“I thought Kira told you”, Ty fiddled with his bracelet, “It has to do with my citizenship status Stateside, or I don’t think Kira would’ve agreed to it…”, he trailed off, and as much as Chris was shocked by another relationship bombshell revolving around Kira and Ty, she could also feel that there was something being left unsaid. Her gut was leaning towards a more complicated story around Kira’s acquiescence to entering into a marriage, but that was too much to think about in the present moment. Kira and Ty were _engaged_. Ty drained his cup quickly and stood, “I’m very sorry this is how you found out, Chris, but I think I should - I should go.”

Chris could only nod as he walked into the shop. Their talk had been going so well, and she had let herself start to think about dating Ty. Maybe. It was hard to think back through the emotional whiplash this close to the event. She wanted to be angry at Kira for lying, but it was an empty, going through the motions sort of anger. More disappointment and confusion, really. Technically, Chris had never asked what her exact relationship to Ty was, and Kira had only ever said he was her partner, and she had _assumed_ they were only dating. A ring on a finger was probably a rather outdated sign of commitment for someone who did this multiple love bullshit. Ty was looking down at his phone and typing as he left the shop, and Chris could tell in another surreally objective point of view that he hadn’t known about the omission. He was as caught off guard as she was, or he was a damn good actor. Her phone dinged for a chat notification.

> Ty: This is not how Chris should’ve found out, Kira.
> 
> Kira: what r u talking about?
> 
> Ty: When you told her about us,  
> what *exactly* did you say?
> 
> Kira: idk  
> i don’t remember rn
> 
> Chris: Partner
> 
> Kira: guys what’s this about
> 
> Chris: You’re engaged
> 
> Kira: shit  
> i was trying to gauge your interest w/ us
> 
> Ty: I think that’s an important piece of info  
> to gauge interest with
> 
> Kira: i was going to tell chris
> 
> Chris: Before the wedding?
> 
> Kira: of course  
> why wouldn’t i
> 
> Chris: Well making assumptions clearly  
> hasn’t worked out very well
> 
> Kira: i’m sorry
> 
> Chris: I just need a little space right now


End file.
